Hello -
I'm worried that my daughter isn't eating enough food, but I want to start cutting out some of her breastfeeding sessions. Any advice?

My daughter is one year old now and neither of us is ready for weaning, but I am ready to not be nursing her every 3 hours around the clock...! I've already instituted a "no nursing between 11pm and 4am" policy, during which we'll soothe her back to sleep but not nurse her back to sleep. But other than that she's pretty much nursing every few hours. And she doesn't love solids - I can get her to eat a few tablespoons of fruit, and she will try other foods and sometimes eat up to a few tablespoons at a sitting, but I'm just concerned that if I start to cut out other nursing sessions with her not really so keen on eating she won't be getting the nutrition she needs. We've introduced all types of foods by now, and I think it's just a matter of preference.

If I try to feed her and she is hungry and wants to nurse, she just gets all upset and signs for the boob, and won't settle down to eat food, so that has made it tricky to offer food before nursing.

Any tips greatly appreciated!!!

June 27th, 2013, 07:12 PM

@llli*mommal

Re: beginning to wean my one year old

Welcome to the forum!

How not ready for weaning are you? The reason I ask is that the easiest way to get your child to nurse less and eat more solids is to simply...wait. And probably not all that long. At a year, both my kids were pretty close to 100% breastfed because they just weren't interested in solids. But by 14-15 months, they both turned into chowhounds. Nursing frequency is another thing that decreases even if you just ignore it. Again, I think of my own kids as an example- at 12 months they both nursed every 1-2 hours during the day, but as they became more interested in solids and in activities other than nursing, their frequency dropped way, way down. By 18-24 months they were down to maybe 3-5 nursing sessions per day, all without me having to do anything.

If you don't want to take the "just wait" approach, then simply offer solids frequently, including plenty of between-meal snacks. As long as you continue to nurse about 3-5 times a day you are meeting your child's need for "dairy"- but if you aren't nursing that often or are simply concerned about her nutritional intake, offering some whole animal milk or milk products (yogurt, cheese) are a good way to fill any gaps in her diet.

June 28th, 2013, 06:13 PM

@llli*danlynclark

Re: beginning to wean my one year old

When you mention feeding her a couple tablespoons of fruit, is that a puree that you are spoon feeding? You may find she shows more interest if you were to introduce self-feeding options like pieces of soft fruit, avocado, puffed rice, etc.